The “Thrift Shop” star, Macklemore is far from a closed book. In this episode of The Great Creators with Guy Raz, he is very open about his struggle with addiction, his will to be an advocate through his music, and much more.
LISTEN NOW: The Great Creators with Guy Raz: Macklemore
Early on in this episode Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, shared a story about when he was 14 years old. He was home alone and at the time his parents had a liquor cabinet above the refrigerator. He managed to get his hands on a bottle of vodka and in as little as 20 minutes he had taken about 12 shots. This was his first time drinking alcohol.
“That was the very beginning of a painful next decade of trying to get sober,” he shared.
Macklemore makes it a point to be open and honest about his struggles with substance abuse because he wants “to be able to be honest about who [he] is.”
“There's such a stigma and secrecy around the disease of addiction and around alcoholism… I don’t want to hide from it,” he added. This is one of the main reasons he shares his past with his daughters who are seven and four years old. While many may consider this is a bit young to be having the “say no to drugs” conversation, Macklemore disagrees because he wants to be as open with his children about his past as possible.
A defining moment for Macklemore was being transferred out of his hometown and dream high school, Garfield which is a school that holds ample history with notable alumni like Quincy Jones, Jimi Hendrix, and many more.
While devastated about leaving Garfield behind, he admitted that transferring to Nathan Hale High School changed the trajectory of his life. There, he met a drug and alcohol counselor where he was provided with guidance and support from adults which he felt like he hadn’t had before at Garfield.
“The fact that they switched schools for me changed my entire path, I focused on graphic arts, I focused on music, I was really able to hone in on that,” he says.
Macklemore also shared that he’s always wanted to be on stage and from a very young age he knew he loved Hip Hop, recalling listening to artists like Tupac and NWA, so it's no surprise that he naturally gravitated to making rap music. However, throughout his journey in making Hip Hop music, he has never shied away from conversations of cultural appropriation and systemic oppression.
In 2018, he released a song called “White Privilege,” which led to ample criticism and people claiming he has so much “white guilt,” but to Macklemore, he’s just telling his truth.
It's as simple as this, Macklemore wants to make art that “means something.”
As “a guest in the house of Hip Hop,” Macklemore can’t fathom the idea of not acknowledging the struggles and history that Black people have gone and continue to go through as he partakes and profits from a piece of their culture.
“If I was to skim over systemic oppression, if I was to skim over cultural appropriation… it's disingenuous,” he said.
When asked if he sees himself as a participator or an appropriator he summed it up as this: “it is participation if I’m still remembering the originators, where it came from and what we’re actually fighting against because it is a form of resistance.”
The Great Creators with Guy Raz facilitates deep and thought-provoking conversation with people who are at the top of their game. Listen to the full episode above.
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